Building leaders of social change at Capital Preparatory Harlem

ocial justice means everything to our school,” says Danita Jones, the principal of Capital Preparatory School, Harlem. “It’s the air that we breathe.”

Capital Prep Harlem, which is located in Manhattan’s District 4, is devoted to providing students with the college and career readiness skills they need to become responsible and engaged citizens for social justice. Everything from the length and structure of the school day, to the curriculums designed to prepare students for college and infuse in them a sense of personal and global awareness.

Currently in its second year, Capital Prep Harlem has 6th through 8th grade, and will be adding one new grade each year, until the school is a full 6th through 12th grade middle school and high school. Breakfast is served at 6:30 am each day and class begins at 7 am, “Sharp,” says Jones. The school day ends at 2:45 pm, with tutoring available after school Monday through Thursday and on Saturdays as well.

In addition to extended days, the school year stretches to 201 days, about three weeks longer than the 180 mandated days. Jones says that many students who come to the school enter several grade levels behind, so those longer days serve as an essential deep dive into skills and material they may have missed out on in earlier school experiences.

“We have a robust academic day. In the fourth and fifth grades, our students may not have had teachers who helped them connect dots,” says Jones. “Here we don’t just read and write, we teach children to think critically and find ways to add value to the world.

Social justice is infused into the curriculum, and students discuss concepts like diversity, globalization, class power, personal health and well-being in both historical and personal contexts. The social justice focus involves a great deal of reading and writing, and Jones calls it an “ELA double-dip.” All of our 8th graders will complete a social justice project that challenges them to check a program or project solve an issue in society.

Each student is assigned an advisor, an educator in the school who meets with the student on a daily basis to focus not just on academic challenges, but to encourage deep and meaningful emotional development. “Affording every child the opportunity to live a good life, requires more than traditional classroom education,” says Jones. “It’s not just academics, we build the whole child.”

Progress at Capital Prep is measured not just by academic excellence, but also by emotional maturity. “We have so many kids in a good space,” says Jones. “We’re a uniform school, and, especially in the beginning of the school year children don’t necessarily like wearing black dress shoes to school, wearing a tie, buttoning their buttons all the way to the top. But we hit January and February and those dress shoes start to feel good, they’re proud to put on their ties. Our students strive for excellence; they will change the world; they are proud to be Capital Prep.”

Capital Preparatory Harlem is holding an open house for parents and prospective students on Saturday, March 24 at 12:30 pm. To register, arrange a tour at a different time or for more information, call (212) 328-9370, or visit www. capitalprepharlem.org.